A THUG who stabbed a dad-to-be to death was caged for 15 years yesterday.

Joiner James Purves, 29, claimed he was acting in self defence when he knifed Paul Scott, 22, in the heart.

A trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard that two months after the stabbing at a flat in Tranent, East Lothian, Paul's partner, Fiona King, gave birth to their son, Jared.

A jury cleared Purves of murder but found him guilty of culpable homicide.

Jailing him, judge Michael O'Grady QC told Purves, who has previous convictions for serious assaults, he had committed "a dreadful and appalling crime", adding: "You have taken the life of a young man and, sadly, no sentence I can impose can change that."

The trial heard that Purves, yelling and swearing about people coming into his flat, killed Paul, from Edinburgh's Niddrie Mill about 4am on February 7, after he turned up there with a group of men and women, including Purves's girlfriend.